Worcester councilors want public input on transfer of Charter license to Comcast

Wednesday

Aug 20, 2014 at 6:00 AM

By Nick Kotsopoulos TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER — The City Council does not want City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. to act on the transfer of the city's cable television license from Charter Communications to Comcast Corp. until it can hold a public hearing on the matter and make a recommendation to him.

The council asked Mr. Augustus Tuesday night to hold off on the license transfer request after members raised a number of concerns about Comcast becoming the local cable television operator.

The concerns ranged from Comcast's historic poor customer service track record to the monopoly that will be create in Massachusetts when and if Comcast takes over Charter's customers, as well as the future of Charter's customer service call center in the city and its "Worcester News Tonight" program.

Councilors argued that the monopoly that Comcast will have in the state will lead to higher costs and fewer programming choices for local cable consumers.

"This is not going to be in the best interests of the consumers of this city," said Councilor-at-Large Konstantina B. Lukes. "The burden is on them (Comcast) to tell us we will benefit from this transfer."

Mrs. Lukes, who is chairman of the council's Public Service and Transportation Committee, said she is willing to have her committee hold a hearing on the license transfer.

Mayor Joseph M. Petty said the cable license transfer is a "very serious issue" and is like "deja vu," comparing it to the license transfer when Charter took over the local cable franchise from Greater Media Inc.

He said the city and local cable customers went through all sorts of growing pains for a number of years with Charter and he doesn't want to go through all that again.

"We have to understand how this is going to effect Worcester," Mr. Petty said. "It's a serious issue and I'm all for having the Public Service Committee hold a hearing on this."

Comcast, the nation's largest cable television company and home Internet service provider, is on a track to become Worcester's new cable provider through a mega-merger with Time Warner Cable.

Charter, which has been Worcester's longtime provider of cable, Internet and telephone services, fits into the complex deal as a third party. Basically, Charter and Comcast have agreed to transfer about 1.6 million customers to each other, with Charter picking up Comcast customers in the South and West, and Comcast picking up Charter's customers in the Northeast.

In Massachusetts, Comcast would pick up Charter's 182,999 customers in 53 communities, adding to the nearly 1.5 million customers it already has in the eastern and western parts of the state

Comcast filed its license transfer request with the city manager on July 10. Mr. Augustus has 120 days from that date to approve or deny the transfer request, according to Deputy City Solicitor Michael E. Traynor.

He said if the manager takes no action after 120 days, the transfer request is deemed approved under federal law.

Mr. Traynor said the license transfer can only be based on four criteria: Comcast's management, technical and legal expertise, as well as its financial capabilities.

If Comcast can meet that criteria, the transfer cannot be denied by the contracting authority, which in Worcester's case is the city manager, he said.

He added that none of the terms of the existing cable contract can be renegotiated and nothing can be added to it. Comcast officials have said if the company gets the city's cable license it will fullfil the commitments that are authorized in the cable contract.

In 2013, the city renewed its contract with Charter for 10 more years.

Mrs. Lukes questioned whether the city would be in breach of contract if the City Council voted to recommend that the city manager not approve the transfer request.

Mr. Traynor said if the transfer was not approved, Comcast would likely appeal the decision to the Massachusetts Cable Commission and the Federal Communications Commission.

But he said denying the transfer could be a "tough road to hoe" for the city because it would have to show that Comcast does not meet one of the four criteria.

For that reason, Councilor-at-Large Morris A. Bergman said the city has to proceed "very slowly and cautiously" on this matter.

Mr. Traynor said the city is not precluded, however, from trying to bring in other cable providers or even start its own municipal cable service because the cable license is not an exclusive contract.

He said the license merely gives the cable operator the right to use public rights-of-way for wiring the city.

Contact Nick Kotsopoulos at nicholas.kotsopoulos@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @NCKotsopoulos